Open main menu

Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum β

Imperial Army

(Redirected from Imperialis Auxilia)
Imperialis Auxilia (Imperial Army)
Imperial Army Symbol.jpg
Headquarters Terra
Leader Lord Commander Militant
Sub-Branches Solar Auxilia
Imperialis Militia
Imperialis Armada
Divisio Aeronautica
Established Unification Wars-era
Dissolved Post-Horus Heresy

The Imperial Army (also known as the Imperialis Auxilia in High Gothic[20]) was the largest military force in the early Imperium, and was founded during the early Great Crusade to fill the need for more manpower to support the Astartes Legions, and quickly was used to garrison worlds and to perform sieges and mass invasions[1]. The Imperialis Armada was the fleet subset of the Imperial Army and was subordinate to it, while its aerial warfare branch was known as the Divisio Aeronautica.[44] These units were in turn subordinate to the Astartes command structure[1]. The Imperial Army itself was part of the Excertus Imperialis, constituting one of its many divisions.[41a]

The fighting elite of the Imperial Army was the Solar Auxilia, which comprised about 20-25% of the Army's strength by the end of the Great Crusade.[21] The whole strength of the Imperial Army numbered in the many billions.[41b] The Imperial Army also maintained a force of auxiliaries known as the Imperialis Militia.

History

 
A soldier of the Imperial Army[12a]

The genus of the armed force that was to become the Imperial Army was on Terra, in the form of the few Strife-era military formations that the Emperor allowed to continue in his service after the end of the Unification Wars. These surviving units in time became referred to as the Old Hundred, and formed the initial nucleus of human soldiery at the very beginning of the Great Crusade[3].

When the Emperor left Terra on the Great Crusade, it is said that he would expect the inhabitants of the worlds he conquered to maintain defences and armed forces for their own safety, against internal rebellion and external invasion; similar to the role of Planetary Defence Forces in the 41st millennium. It is out of these forces that the Imperial Army was first formed. Initially used as garrison forces, they were quickly pushed to the forefront of the Crusade[2x].

The Imperial Army's subordination to the Astartes Legions led to the Imperial Army tearing itself apart in the Horus Heresy, when half of the legions rebelled against the Emperor, and took their Army regiments with them. Thousands of Army commanders took it upon themselves to carve themselves their own empires, with no loyalty to Horus or the Emperor, and it was centuries before the Imperium was reforged.

In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, numerous changes were made to the structure of the Imperial armed forces. Many of these changes were made to ensure that no single individual would ever again be powerful enough to attempt to overthrow the ruling body of the Imperium if he turned traitor. It was during these post-Heresy reforms that the Imperial Army was split into two organisations: the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy; the link between them was severed. Astra Militarum commanders now have no authority over the Navy personnel transporting them and are forbidden from being able to command a naval force[2x].

Organisation and Recruitment of the Imperial Army

Recruitment

The Imperial Army was recruited from each world in the Imperium unless exempted (such as Astartes home worlds, Forge Worlds and planets in the Sol System, though some of the regiments from the Unification Wars of Terra were allowed to fight in the Great Crusade), but the size of the tithed forces was dependent on the population of the planet, and Imperial administrators determined the amount of soldiers and war materiel demanded[1]. If all else failed or in times of desperation, the Imperial Army would utilise inducted levy militia, troops with little to no training and poor equipment.[43]

The best equipped and trained regular Imperial Army troops were known as Grenadiers.[22] The fighting elite, made up of 20-25%, were known as the Solar Auxilia

 
Imperial Army troops of the Sallan 11th Regiment

Organisation

Overall command of the Imperial Army was overseen by two Lord Militants who at the end of the Great Crusade were Tabor Ludovicia and Haldane Ma'lon.[24] Like the Imperial Guard of the 41st Millennium, the Imperial Army relied on the Departmento Munitorum for administrative duties.[25] This in turn answered to the Officio Militaris, an umbrella organisation including all of the many mortal soldiers, labourers and bureaucrats dedicated to the Great Crusade. However, operational command for the Imperial Army fell to the War Council.[34]

The Imperial Army was broadly organised into three groupings. The First Echelon consisted of around 25% of the Army, was a leading edge of the Great Crusade and fought in direct support of the Legiones Astartes or independently in areas where Space Marines could not be spared. These included the famed Solar Auxilia as well as other elite Regiments such as the Old Hundred. Upon achieving victory, the First Echelon would leave the warzone with the rest of the Expeditionary Fleet. The Second Echelon, a strategic reserve formation of regular army troops, would then begin its duties in the form of mopping up, occupation and the overseeing compliance of the conquered world into the new Imperium. When necessary, these troops would also be used in protracted sieges and anti-insurgency operations.[42]

Only once a world was declared fully compliant would the Third Echelon, or Imperialis Militia, be deployed. These troops often were formed for a core of former Second Echelon troops as well as many new locally raised personnel. The duty of the Third Echelon was to combat piracy, civil unrest and to act as the first line of defense against any new threats that may emerge despite often being woefully outmatched against more formidable enemies. Unlike the first and second echelons, these troops had no standardisation with regards to equipment, technology levels or training. Rarely deployed off-world and not particularly loyal to the Imperial Truth, during the subsequent Horus Heresy Third Echelon troops were often used as cannon fodder, especially by the Traitor Legions.[42]

 
A Discipline Master.[12c]

The largest single organisational unit in the Imperial Army was the Expedition Fleet, each of which was controlled by a Lord Commander unless an Astartes officer was attached[3]. By the time of the Ullanor campaign and the inauguration of Warmaster Horus, there were 4,659 Primary Expedition Fleets (with 372 of those in refit at the time) and more than sixty thousand Secondary Expedition Fleets[4]. Expedition Fleets each had hundreds of thousands of ships and a large amount of Army personnel for ground warfare, the entirety of the Imperialis Armada transporting and supplying many billions of troops.[41b]

Imperial Army personnel were watched over by Discipline Masters, precursors of the modern Commissars.[12c]

Organisation of Imperial Army Regiments

 
Imperial Army troops of the Fasadian Heavy Infantry

The largest permanent organisational unit during the Horus Heresy for the Imperial Army was the regiment and to take a typical example, regiments could be divided into three or more battalions, with each battalion made up of two or more companies and Platoons, with additional support units attached at the battalion and regimental level[6].

The organisation of individual regiments varied immensely because of the massive lack of standardisation within the Imperial Army[2x]. Expedition Fleets were only equipped with a portion of their supply needs and were expected to re-supply themselves from conquered worlds. These issues were partially resolved with the Council of Terra's introduction of the Departmento Munitorum[5]. The Munitorum originally existed as the Corps Logisticae, a division of naval administration, but was made into a full Departmento shortly before the Ullanor Crusade.[15]

Organisation of the Imperialis Armada

The Imperialis Armada was overseen by a Grand Admiral who by the end of the Great Crusade was Constansa Suati-Falkan.[24]

Regiments were usually assigned to individual ships, with Army personnel commanding both elements.[2a] In the fleet, the highest rank was the Master of the Fleet, who was under the authority of the Lord Commander or Astartes officer in the Expedition Fleet. Other common ranks included Shipmaster (in control of a ship), Executive Officer (second in command)[4], First Master[11a] and Master (other ship officers)[11b]. Some fleets, like the Saturnine Fleet, retained their old ranks from before the Unification Wars.

Equipment

Main article: Astra Militarum Vehicles_#Retired

The Imperial Army of the Great Crusade was much more well-equipped than the Astra Militarum of the 41st Millennia.[13x] Vehicles that are considered rare or lost technology in M41 were common, such as the Testudo, Dracosan, Aurox, Gorgon, Carnodon, Malcador, Leman Russ Incinerator, Leman Russ Vanquisher[13a], Leman Russ Executioner[13b], Destroyer Tank Hunter[13c], or Scurrier[3]. Advanced walkers such as the Hermes Light Sentinel and Aethon Heavy Sentinel were fielded[37]. Entire divisions were equipped with Baneblade and Stormhammer Super-Heavy Tanks and Valdor Heavy Tanks[14] and fleets were equipped with multitudes of Battleships and Grand Cruisers, all now considered a rarity.[13d] In the ten thousand years since the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, STCs have been lost, Forge Worlds destroyed, and the technology has been treated with far more superstition by the Adeptus Mechanicus.[13e]

Notable regiments

Notable fleets

Main article: Expedition Fleet

Notable Members of the Imperial Army

Images

 
Imperial Army Solar Auxilia miniatures

See also

Sources

 

This article contains text passages or images with citation issues. The concerned content is marked with "Citation issue" tags. Please help to improve this article by fixing those issues as described in the corresponding Help article. Do also note that it is absolutely forbidden to add new information or content to these marked passages as long as the pre-existing citation issues have not been completely resolved.

Retrieved from "https://lex.124811.xyz/mediawiki/index.php?title=Imperial_Army&oldid=724503"